Lane, 33, of Bad Axe, was one of six suspects charged in two May 26 meth lab busts. Police seized 20 grams of processed meth from a Whitelam Street home in Bad Axe and also discovered an inactive cooking operation at a barn on Sullivan Road in Verona Township.

Lane pleaded guilty to one count of operating a meth lab.

"I messed up," Lane read from a written statement. "In the last four months, I've been incarcerated, and it has helped me clear my head."

"How do you square all of that together?" asked Prill, in reference to Lane's situation with his children.

Lane explained he sought rehab sometime in March, but after not receiving proper medication sometime between March and the date of the incident, he slipped up.

"How in the world do you put (your children) to the side and get involved in this nonsense?" Prill asked.

The defendant eventually owned up to his wrongdoings.

"I was going back to what I used to do when I was younger," Lane explained. "When I was depressed, I used drugs."

Defense attorney Andrew Lockard said there was a connection between his client's mental health issues and his drug use.

"Often times with mental issues, there's a link between controlled substance abuse," Lockard said, adding his client wasn't the mastermind behind the operations. "We've seen a various range of sentences in this case."

Three codefendants in the case were previously sentenced to time in the county jail and a fourth codefendant is currently in prison.

"They (Jonathan P. Boyce and Gregory Delmarter) were doing whatever they were doing and convinced him to go along," Lockard said.

Lockard highlighted the differences in treatment his client could receive if the judge sentenced Lane to jail as opposed to prison.

"A county jail sentence would be more helpful for him," Lockard said in his closing statements.

Huron County Prosecutor Timothy J. Rutkowski told the court that Lane helped carry the supplies with Delmarter and Boyce to the Verona Township barn.

"He provided the location and he helped clean up the mess," Rutkowski said. "There is nothing to deviate below the guidelines for this offense."

At minimum, Lane faced two to three and a half years in prison, according to the recommended sentencing guidelines.

"In this case, the defendant isn't actively involved, but he provided the means — the building — and he helped clean up the mess," Prill told Lane before fashioning a sentence. "You don't provide means for a lab like this whether it be the one-pot method or a bigger lab ... you just don't do it."

Lane was sentenced to 365 days in the Huron County Jail with credit for 115 days served. He will be placed on probation for a period of 36 months once released from jail.